Dissertation Title: The Form, Function, and Distribution of High Rising Intonation in Southern Californian and Southern British English

Linguistic Field(s):
Phonetics
Phonology
Pragmatics
Sociolinguistics

Dissertation Director:
Amalia Arvaniti
Susan Fitzmaurice

Dissertation Abstract:

This thesis presents an investigation of the High Rising Tone (HRT) in Southern California and London English. I examine the phonological and phonetic form, and the pragmatic function and sociolinguistic distribution of HRT. Previous research has largely focused on phonetic, pragmatic, or sociolinguistic study of HRT in Australian English, New Zealand English and American English. This thesis adopts a holistic approach to examine the form, function and distribution of HRT use across male and female Southern California and London speakers.

The data for this project come from map task dialogues collected from 20 native Southern California speakers (six female pairs and four male pairs) and from 20 London English speakers (six female pairs and four male pairs). HRTs were identified by ear and then subjected to a phonological analysis using Tones and Breaks Indices (ToBI) labels. The phonetic realisation of HRTs was examined by taking phonetic measurements which were then subjected to statistical analyses. The distribution of HRTs across three pragmatic variables specific to the map task were examined, namely, conversational move (Carletta et al. 1996), place in turn and new landmark. Case study analyses were conducted on four dialogues in order to examine pragmatic functions of HRTs. The sociolinguistic distribution of HRT was examined in order to determine the frequency of HRT occurrence.

The sociolinguistic analysis showed that females used HRT more often than males, and that Southern California speakers used HRT more frequently than London speakers. HRT is variable in terms of its form and function, and it differs according to gender and dialect. It seems that there is more than one phonological representation for HRT. London HRT was more phonologically variable than Southern California HRT. The statistical analysis yielded dialect as well as gender differences in the form of HRT. Southern California speakers used HRTs with wider pitch ranges than London speakers; female speakers of both dialects used HRTs with wider pitch ranges than males. It was also found that females aligned L* later in their HRTs than male speakers.

The map task data provided a good basis for examining the pragmatic functions of HRT. Speakers used larger pitch ranges with turn-final HRTs than with turn non-final HRTs. Also, while London speakers used more HRTs in turn-final position, Southern California speakers used more HRTs in turn-non-final position. Female speakers used a wider pitch range with HRTs used to introduce new landmarks than with HRTs not used for this purpose. Furthermore, H* HRTs were used more than L* HRTs when introducing a new landmark. The conversational move analysis showed that Southern California speakers used more HRTs with instruct moves but London speakers used more HRTs with non-instruct moves. HRTs in the London data tend to be strongly contextual in that they occur in particular contexts with a strategic function. However, HRT seems to have a more stable use in the Southern California data. The stable and conventional use of HRT in Southern California English suggests that HRT is unmarked in this dialect. In contrast, its conscious use by speakers of London English to perform particular pragmatic functions suggest that HRT is a marked feature of London English.